I am going be getting a couple of EGC necks; a used one with a square heel, and one from the batch that Kevin is working on right now with a round heel.

Is it recommended to have someone that knows what they are doing bolt everything together, or can I safely do this before having a tech do the final setup? I have never built a partscaster of any kind. I am very comfortable with electronics, but that doesn't give me a playable guitar.

Has anyone tried one of those backbone resonance enhancers? I'm curious if it would be worth trying, or if they are snake oil? The demo videos I've seen tell me nothing.

Thoughts, advice, criticisms, and opinions on my upbringing are welcome.

I sent Kevin a message asking about set up, and this was his response:

"Its easy to do yourself. They have machine screws. I can walk you through the set up. Its so easy that there is no need to pay someone to intonate your guitar."

I'm very excited to build these guitars! I had no intention of getting two necks, but as I was going back and forth about the one I am trading for, Kevin posted a message on FB about building a batch of them, so I pulled the trigger on one. I assume this is why so many people have more than one EGC guitar. Put a deposit on your dream build, and an awesome EGC shows up on here or Reverb during the wait.

For some reason, I thought they were $35-45, but now I see they are $60-70! I seems like an ok idea, but I can't see it making much of a difference. Plus, at that price, it is in the "worth doing it yourself" territory (if it's worth using at all).

I have to admit I know little about natural acoustics and resonance, so maybe it's cooler than I think?

From FB:There have been a lot of folks wanting these so, if you want one email me by Thursday afternoon and Ill get more metal on the way. sales at electrical guitar company dot com. This run is shaping up to be between 20-25.

(Partially off-topic) For those on FB but not in the Aluminum Axes group, it's been pretty active recently- Kevin announcing the run of necks, NAMM coverage, links to used Beans, people receiving their Obstructures builds, etc. Worth checking out.

This video was posted today:Aluminum Neck Guitars with Kevin Burkett of EGC and Marc McElwee of Travis Bean at NAMM 2017

We have been asked for years to make a run of bolt on necks, we are finally doing so. All necks will be 25.5 scale with round or square heel. We will be making a bass neck as well, 34.00 scale with round standard heel. Guitar bolt on necks are 750.00usd with tuners and nut. Bass bolt ons will be 800.00 with tuners and nut. Email us if you'd like to get one, sales at electrical guitar company dot com

It isn't hard, but the dimensions of the body and bridge type are important factors to get the action you want. Different bodies have different depth heel pockets, and that will decide how high or low the neck sits in relation to your guitar body. plus you want make sure it all goes together such that the bridge string height is adjustable up or down (you don't want the height screws at their highest travel nor at their lowest.

The round heel neck will probably not be built in the near future. When I do, it will probably be a jazzmaster, especially after seeing FM bassmaster's beautiful example above! Although it would be fun to try to get a hold of one of those aluminum strat bodies, and build that.

you are probably okay. the tele has a flat body, and so long as the neck pocket is square to the body top, you are probably okay. if the floor of the neck pocket isn't square (i.e. parallel to the plane of the top of the guitar), your neck could tilt up or down which would blow the action. Remedies can be as simple as a card shim in the neck pocket (fore or aft), or routing the slightest shave off the floor of the neck pocket square to the body.

Put it all to together, if you can't get the action right, turn your attention to sorting out the neck pocket.

I am in on a bolt-on too. Have a locally made Tele body that I am pretty excited about, made from reclaimed wood taken from the floorboards in a 1912 house. Ordered a Backbone as well, complete imitation of the real deal but seems proper for this build.